NHL shakes up All-Star Game with unique draft

RALEIGH, N.C. — While the NFL and NBA are facing labor uncertainty, the NHL is taking a moment to puff out its chest as it heads into an All-Star weekend unlike any other.

The Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. — While the NFL and NBA are facing labor uncertainty, the NHL is taking a moment to puff out its chest as it heads into an All-Star weekend unlike any other.

Six years after a full season was lost, the NHL finds itself in a unique position of negotiated calm and unprecedented success.

As it takes the midseason spectacle to Raleigh for the first time, the NHL said it is on pace to break revenue records. The league expects total revenue to rise for the fifth straight year to nearly $2.9 billion. League generated revenue is believed to be going up by 14 percent — an 85 percent jump over the past four years.

"The league is extremely well positioned," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said.

And now the NHL is pushing the envelope.

While the league and the All-Star game will take a big hit because Penguins captain Sidney Crosby — the face of the league and its most popular player — is out with a concussion, there is another hook to draw in fans.

This year's teams will be chosen by a televised draft on Friday (8 p.m., Versus).

"You look around the leagues, the concept is pretty much the same: voted in or picked by fans or hockey personnel," Coyotes defenseman Ed Jovanovski said. "I'd say this caught people probably 90 percent off-guard."

Instead of dividing the players by conference or nationality, both tried and true methods, the All-Star teams won't be set until the captains make their picks.

This is where fantasy meets reality. The draft is such an interesting concept, the NHL is running the risk that it will overshadow the game.

"There isn't any doubt, that is the focal point of the weekend," said analyst Eddie Olczyk, who will call the game with Mike Emrick on Versus. "I don't think there is any doubt it needed something. The league did a good job coming up with something a little different.

"It had gone stale for a while."

Eric Staal of the host Hurricanes will serve as captain of the aptly named "Team Staal," and along with his alternate captains — Washington's Mike Green and Vancouver's Ryan Kesler — will stage a draft against Detroit's Nicklas Lidstrom and his assistants Martin St. Louis of the Lightning and Chicago's Patrick Kane on "Team Lidstrom."

One by one, All-Stars will be plucked off the board until both rosters are set for Saturday's skills competition and Sunday's game.